deficit we inherited by half by the end of hi first term in office. >> greg: i hate those. yellow curtains. four years later and he hasn't gotten it done. why? you will hear from the president. you are not going to let me say danl eat a live bunny if you leave? >> dana: ruin my reputation. >> greg: too late. ♪ ♪ does your phone give you all day battery life ? droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ? launch cab4me. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. with verizon, america's largest 4g lte network, and motorola, droid does. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. >> dana: in 2008, then candidate obama thought trillions of dollars of debt was unpatriotic is what he said. once inaugurated in 2009, he promised the american people he would deal with the deficit problem. listen. >> we now have over $9 trillion of debt. that we are going to have to pay back. $30,000 for every man, woman and child. that's irresponsible. it's unpatriotic. today i'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by

he would eliminate to make the math work on his deficit plan and his tax plan. are we going to get those details in the course of the debate? >> well, you know, david, i wish you guys were just as tough on the president. the president says he's going to create a million new manufacturing jobs. he doesn't say how. he says he's going to reduce the long-term debt and deficit by $4 trillion. doesn't say how he's going to do it. let's be fair here. governor romney has laid out a direction and a vision for the direction of this country. he's not an accountant. he is not going to go line-by-line through the budget. but let's hold the president to the same standard and criticize him as well, because how does he create a million new manufacturing jobs, david? he hasn't told anybody the specifics of that. how will he reduce $4 trillion in debt? we're still waiting to hear what he thinks about simpson-bowles, which he commissioned. he's been the president and hasn't given us specifics. so let's be fair here. >> so that's really the approach then? you're a former prosecutor. you understand how

deficits. >> he is saying that he is going to pay for by closing loopholes and deductions. the problem that is he's been asked over a hundred times how you would close those deductions and loopholes, and he hasn't been able to identify them. >> everything he said by b. my tax plan is inaccurate. if the tack plan he described was a tax plan i was asked to support i would say absolutely not. i'm not looking for $5 trillion tax cut. i won't put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. >> 18 months he's been run on this tax plan, now five weeks before the election, he's saying that his big, bold idea is never mind. >> let me repeat what i said. i'm not in favor of $5 trillion tax cut, that's not my plan. the two men even disagreed over whose turn it was to speak. >> jim -- the president began this segment so i think i get the last word. so i -- >> you get the first word in the next segment. >> but he gets the first word of the segment and i get the last word. let me make the comment. >> let's get back to medicare. >> i had five seconds before he interrupted me. >> and ready to rumble,

can't play for his $5 trillion tax plan without blowing up the deficit or stick it to the middle class. that's the math. we can't afford to go down that road again. we can't afford to gut our investments in education or clean energy or research and technology. we can't afford to roll back regulations on wall street. or on big oil companies or insurance companies. we cannot afford to double down with the same top-down economic policy that is got us into this mess. that is not a plan to create jobs. that is not a plan to grow the economy. that is not changed. that is a relapse. we don't want to go back there. it didn't work, and we are not going back. we are going forward. i've got a different view about how we create jobs and prosperity. this government doesn't succeed when we only see the rich getting richer. we succeed when the middle class gets bigger. we grow our economy not from the top down, but from the middle out. we don't believe that anybody is entitled to success in this country, but we do believe in something called opportunity. we believe in a country where hard work

the olympics and came into massachusetts and turned deficits into surpluses, and that he actually is committed to doing this, and that he will do it because he has a record of fulfilling the commitments he makes to solve problems. i think that's what -- what he will try and convey. >> let's talk about libya for a moment. you've gone on the recording saying ambassador stevens suffered the consequences, in your words, of a lazy, detached president. that's tough criticism out there. >> that's right. >> why do you stand by that? >> well, look, what we have is a situation all over the middle east, and you showed some clips of what's happening in pakistan. we have -- we have taken a difficult situation and turned it into a disaster, because we have a president that thought he was somehow going to charm that part of the world into loving america. what he's done is increased the antagonism toward america there by having a failed foreign policy. and harry truman used to say, "the buck stops here" talking about the presidency. and the buck should stop at the president's desk. he has created th

do you pay for it? you're going to cut taxes for everybody. it's going to be deficit neutral. you say you're going to close loopholes, deal with deductions, so let's talk about those deductions. you know, home mortgage deduction, charitable giving deduction, health care deduction. are you willing to tell the middle class -- >> tax deduction. >> are you willing to tell the middle class some of these are off the table? if you are, how do you pay for it? >> he's not going to. he has bucket, 17 grand. is that not good enough for you? >> that's the problem. if he starts getting specific like that, what the right wants to hear is not what 80% of the country wants to hear. that's the fundamental problem he has. >> the bar is pretty low for mr. romney. how does he get through the 90 minutes without any further problems? very quickly. >> i've been a big fan of the fact that mitt romney is the gift that keeps on giving. listen, if mitt romney doesn't produce a verbal or a physical gaffe tonight, then by and large, i think the republicans will probably say that he won. but, i think that mr. lehr

$4 trillion of deficit reduction. romney made a point he'd cut the budget for pbs, even to the moderator. >> i like pbs, big bird, you, too, but i'm not going to keep on spending money. >> i want to make sure i got this straight. he'll get rid of regulations on wall street, but he's going to crack down on sesame street. >> today, a key romney surrogate said this. >> what people saw last night was a president that revealed his incompetence, how laze di and detached he is. >> did you really mean to call barack obama lazy? >> he didn't want to prepare for this debate. he's lazy and disengaged. >> now, the pressure is on paul ryan and joe biden in a debate next week. and the stakes are a lot higher for the president to come up with a different game plan for his next debate with mitt romney two weeks from now. >> andrea mitchell remains in denver tonight. thanks and of course, thanks to social media. getting reaction to a debate isn't a morning after thing anymore. it's a real time thing and the talk about the event in denver is still going on tonight. that part of our story from nb

would have to just say what the president said four years ago, if he could not cut the deficit in half, he does not deserve to run again. i don't have anything against him, but a lot of people called up and said the narrator ann romney grandstanded. i don't think he has the passion he does because he is under a lot of pressure. he has painted himself into a corner. >> this is from joshua, texas, on the independent line. >> i was watching the debate tonight and just looking at the body language on these guys. they keep avoiding the real issues. >> such as? >> they keep talking about the middle class, but their definition of the middle classes people that make over $40,000, for the most part. what about the people who make $20,000 or less? a lot of people don't make that much money. >> beat you learn anything tonight? >> no sir >> eric is saying she was not moved at all by this debate. this is steve joins us on our democrats line. >> i watched the debate for a second time tonight, and the first time i thought romney had him back on his heels of a lot. the second time through, i really di

hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. >> greta: from the $16 trillion deficit to the stubbornly high unemployment rate, president obama supportsers are finding lots of reasons to change their votes. they're speaking out in a new ad for the romney/ryan ticket. shot clock. >> i voted for bill clinton twice. i voted for clinton. >> i voted for clinton. >> al gore. >> i voted for al gore. >> al gore. >> i voted for barack obama. >> i voted for barack obama. >> barack obama in 2008. >> i had huge hopes. but you know what, i got burned in 2008. >> the trillions and trillions of dollars of deficits. >> this time. >> this year. >> i've changed. >> i'm changing my vote. >> i changed my mind. >> to mitt romney and paul ryan. >> to romney and ryan. >> to mitt romney and paul ryan. they have plans and ideas that i believe will work. >> greta: joining us our political panel, rick klein, michael crawley, and justin sink. rick? >> find me a voter for voted for mccain four years ago and now says obama. it's a small segment of the population. this is the kind of message. it's an invitation to th

to buy oil. that's what's added $4 trillion to our deficit. i mean, think about that. so we've created a mountain of debt for the next generation that they're going to have to pay off. >> sean: remember, under obama's watch household income has plummeted more than 8%, and he's added more debt than almost all of his predecessors combined. the president doesn't want to talk about his record because it's a record of failure. he's been disengaged from the moment he took office. not only is he not willing to meet with world leaders bike prime minister benjamin netanyahu, not willing to reach across the isle about serious matters. massive cuts and our defense are looming. the massive tax hike in history is imminent. mr. president, the solutions to those problems won't be reached by sitting on the couch of the "the view," nor found in jay-z's nightclub, nor in george clooney house. the author of a brand-new "new york times" bestseller is here. bob woodward. you said this is a moment of maximum peril. you described a president not engaged in terms of relationships to fix the problems h

the take home pay goes down? do we want four more years of trillion dollar deficits? i don't believe we can afford four more years like the last four years. lou: a new report highlights governor rome -- governor romney's criticisms showing household incomes fell by an average rate of more than 8%. the census bureau revealing the number of people in poverty rose by 3 million in the first three years of the obama administration. we'll take all of that here tonight with former economic adviser to president reagan, economists, author laffer, and digital politics editor, and former bush adviser brad blakeman to separate facts from fiction in the world of presidential polls and strategies. early voting has presidential votes cast in more than half the country by next week. shannon has our report. the president's poll numbers in ohio getting a boost from stronger economic numbers, but there's head winds pressuring the campaign. the white house chief correspondent, ed henry, reports. >> since early voting starts tuesday here in ohio, it was a familiar script for president obama on his 29th v

biggest deficit in our history. the last four years it went up and 90 percent is consequence of two wars that were not paid for and tax cut that is were not paid for . prescription drug plan not paid for and worst economic crisis since the great depression. that accounts for 10 percent of the increase in the deficit. >> brian: front page of the new york times. stuart rather thaney it is over one trillion. every budget when they do the math he is over budget by a trillion dollars. >> gretchen: he said 10 percent. wars and the horrible recession he was begin that only accounts for 10 percent. >> yes. >> gretchen: what about the other 90 percent? >> steve: george bushes fault? >> gretchen: i am anding a question. >> you are exposing the attitude of the establishment media to all of president obama and his economic record. break it down. the president said i am only 10 percent responsible for a massive accumulation of debt. he is a big spender, a very big spender and that's the principle reason why we have a massive deficit of trillion a year. he has raised government spending the lates

the deficit conversation? >> i think that there isn't really -- the president has done a very good job in colorado of pointing out the things he has done. agricultural exports are up largely because of new markets opening. overall exports are up. 38% by the end of last year. our economy has seen a lot of benefit. issues around the stimulus sometimes people bring that up. colorado voters are more in tune with that. there is although i think there is also some of the background issues that have risen in. women's issues -- >> i want to bring that up. is that romney's number one issue? i have seen a lot of advertising specifically targeted women here in colorado. >> when michael bennett was running for the u.s. senate those women issues came up again and again and really did turn a great number of voters in the direction of michael bennett. >> i know you are having a fight between the state and localities having to do with fracking and you want to expand energy. it sounds like romney would be on your side on some of these things and the stereotype would be the president wouldn't be on

its deficit but those most affected by this sort of republican like austerity like public sector workers and the young and the unemployed they are having it already spain has the highest unemployment rate in the eurozone which will only get worse with more republican like austerity demonstrators called for a national referendum to let the spanish people and not banks toure's decide their own fate when it comes to pain than a nation's debts but those voices haven't been heard today the spanish government unveiled its new austerity budget promise. to slash forty billion euros out of their deficit by next year as we've seen other nations that have taken the poison pill of austerity particularly greece these new spending cuts will only make the situation worse situation in spain is already so bad that the cataloging a region of spain called for an early election at the end of november which could be a vote for independence from spain altogether is the region runs into its own financial problems so where is all this leading to here for some answers is david marty activist member of th

enjoys an edge on handling the deficit and joblessness, but trails on virtually every other big issue, including medicare, taxes and foreign policy. keeping them honest, when it comes to some of those issues, both candidates have come up short either on specifics or credibility. issues like cutting taxes without ballooning the deficit or burdening the middle class. the romney campaign has been asked again and again for specifics. here's running mate paul ryan just yesterday on fox news. >> there's been a traditional democrat and republican consensus lowering tax rates by broadening the tax base works. and you can -- >> i have to -- you haven't given me the math. >> well, i don't have -- it would take me too long to go through all of the math. >> chris wallace kept trying but came away empty-handed. he's not the only one. take a look. >> which of the deductions are you going to be willing to eliminate? which of the tax credits are you going to -- when are you going to be able to tell us that? >> we'll go through that process with congress. >> give me an example of a loophole that you w

with enough tax cuts to avoid either raising the deficit or burdening the middle class. it's math. it's arithmetic. >> reporter: on medicare and social security one agreement. >> neither the president nor i are proposing any changes for any current retirees or near retirees. >> reporter: in ten years romney wants a private medicare option. >> aarp has said that your plan would weaken medicare substantially. >> reporter: romney fired back in a major debate moment that the president weakened the economy by his focus on health care. >> i just don't know how the president could come into office facing 23 million people out of work, rising unemployment, and spend his energy and passion for two years fighting for obama care instead of fighting for jobs for the american people. >> we did work on this alongside working on jobs because this is part of making sure that middle class families are secure in this country. >> reporter: a substantial debate. no zingers. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, denver. >>> all right. so how did the candidates do? well, post debate instant polls reveal that

differences clear on lowering the debt. >> you said you'd cut the deficit in half. it's four years later, we still have trillion-dollar deficit. >> the way we do is for additional cut, we ask for a dollar of additional revenue, paid for, as i indicated earlier, by asking those of us who have done very well in this country to contribute a little bit more to reduce the deficit. >> reporter: the president insisted romney would spend $5 trillion on tax breaks favoring the wealthy. >> math, common sense and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth. >> everything he just said about my tax plan is inaccurate. >> reporter: they clashed on wall street, whether banks should be too big to fail, and medicare. >> cutting $716 billion from medicare to be able to balance the additional cost of obama care is, in my opinion, a mistake. >> if you repeal obama care, and i have become fond of this term, obama care, if you repeal it, what happens is those seniors right away are going to be paying $600 more in prescription care. >> reporter: the fiercest exchange over health care and jobs

. i have be asked to testify whether or not psycho paths have affective deficits. absolutely they do. there has been hundreds of years of psychiatric research shows that they do. you have this two prong thing. on the one hand more dangerous if you release them and don't treat them. on the other hand, they're affectively different. there was a very nice article in the "new york times" magazine on mother's day about children who have these emerging traits and how we would develop and understand and treat them. it's a small percentage. my goal is to develop better treatment so they can keep them off that trajectory towards life course persistent problems. >> are you saying that people that have the brain structure that you have identified will always be lacking in volitional control or impulse receive to the extent that they are criminals? do we have a subset of people that are criminals because of their brains? >> i should really differentiate psychopathy from criminality. there are a lot of reasons why individuals engage in different criminal activity. it's a very small percentage of

of the jobs again that we have created, and the budget deficit went up again through the roof and all of those things. but that's why i created also the schwarzenegger institute at the usc so that i can continue on these policies and solve problems in the future, even though i'm out of office. i will continue to be a public servant. >> you took part in two debates, one when you became governor, one later when you were governor. what advice would you have for mitt romney in particular, as a republican, but also barack obama, the president. they're going head-to-head tomorrow. what's your advice? >> i think that in the debates, the most important thing is to be real. i don't want to give advice to those guys because look, first of all, romney and obama, both of them are very skilled and very smart and they have maybe political differences in how to approach the problems, but -- >> what was your strategy, then, in debates? >> to be as honest as possible and not to drop a lot of numbers and facts and statistics because people don't remember that. you've got to be able to look right into t

hike taxes on the wealthy to reduce france's deficit amidst all of. calling for 7 a% tax on the super rich. aruba, sweden and denmark and netherlands have the highest tax rates between 50 and 60%. u.s. caps income tax rates currently at much lower 35%. critics say france's proposed hikes will back fire by putter hurting businesses. police in canada busted three men, including one current and one former police officer for smuggling cheese and other foods across the border cost more in canada than the lower 48. suspects bought $200,000 of the stuff buffalo, new york. drove some 22 miles into canada without declaring it to customs. sold it to canadian restaurants and made more than $165,000 in profit. off cheese. one day after israel's prime minister netanyahu drew a red line. he spoke about the iranian nuclear threat. we will have details from both phone calls. word of another football bounty scandal. but not in the nfl this time. peewee wait until you hear this. bob... oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good t

deficit in a balanced way that allows us to make these critical investments. now, it ultimately going to be up to the voters, to you, which path we should take. are we going to double down on the top-down economic policies that helped to get us into this mess, or do we embrace a new economic patriotism that says america does best when the middle class does best, and i'm looking forward to having that debate. >> lehrer: governor romney, two minutes. >> thank you, jim. it's an honor to be here with you, and i appreciate the chance to be with the president. i'm pleased to be at the university of denver, appreciate their welcome, and also the presidential commission on these debates. and congratulations to you, mr. president, on your anniversary. i'm sure this was the most romantic place you could imagine here with me. ( laughter ). congratulations. this is, obviously, a very tender topic. i've had the occasion over the last couple of years of meeting people across the country. i was in dayton, ohio, and a woman grabbed my arm, and she said, "i've been out of work since may. you can help

-- and the deficit. >> i put together a specific $4 trillion deficit reduction plan. >> my number one principle is there'll be no tax cut that adds to the deficit. >> reporter: the president challenged thnumbers. >> it is not possible to come up with enough deductions and loopholes that only affect high income individuals to avoid either raising the deficit, or burden the middle class. it's -- it's mad. >> reporter: romney emphasized one of the campaign principles. >> it's absolutely extraordinary, we have 23 million people out of work. >> reporter: the debate low on drama and high on energy particularly from romney. >> the format lent itself to one of the candidates; i think he set the standard for it. i didn't think the president was rusty as much as i don't think anybody has ever spoken to him like that over the last four years. >> reporter: the real test comes on november 6th no matter what happened last night. the next presidential debate takes place on october 16th in new york. and the third at the end of the month in florida. the vice presidential candidates square off next wee

$5 trillion tax cuts. i said i won't put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. >> for 18 months, he's been running on this tax plan, and now, five weeks before the election, he's saying his big bold idea is never mind. >> let me repeat what i said. i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. that's not my plan. >> it dominated the deficit reduction part of the debate as the president reached back to an iconic moment from the primaries. >> governor romney stood on the stage with other republican candidates for the nomination, and he was asked, would you take $10 of spending cuts for just $1 of revenue. and he said no. >> you've been president four years. you said you would cut the deficit in half. it's four years later. you raised taxes and you killed jobs. the rev new i get is by more people working, getting higher pay, paying more taxes. >> much to the chagrin of more liberal members shlg the president didn't mention bayne capital. didn't question about his tax returns. somehow talked about the bush tax cuts without uttering the name bush. all lines of attack on the campa

said. >> there are three ways you can cut the deficit. one is to raise taxes. no. two is to cut spending. number three is to grow the economy. if more people work, they are paying taxes and you can get the job done that way. the president would prefer raising taxes. the problem is that it slows down the rate of growth. you can never quite get the job done. i want to lower spending and encourage economic growth at the same time. what would i come from spending? i would eliminate all programs by this test if they do not pass it. is is so critical it is worth borrowing money from china to pay for? if not, i would cut it. obamacare is on my list. i use that term with all respect. >> i love it. >> i will stop subsidies to pbs. i will not keep spending money on things to borrow money to pay for it. i will take programs that are currently good programs, but if you run more efficiently at the state level. number three, i will make government more efficient and cut back the number of employees. i will combine some agencies and departments. cutbacks will be done through attrition. this is

softening his stances around immigration. here is a candidate looking at a huge deficit in some of these swing states, deficits among hispanics, deficits among women. he's got to make ground up in this 90 minutes. it's not a long time. he has to please republicans who have been calling for him to get more specific in terms of his plans around tax reform and all sorts of other ideas he has. he has a real tall order going into this debate. >> governor romney is dogged about the 47% remark. i want to show the interview he did this week with a local affiliate. >> if you could go back to that fund-raiser, would you have said it differently? >> it's difficult for me to know how they will cobble 51% of the people. i'm going to be a president for the 100% of the people. i demonstrated throughout my life. >> the question should be if you could go back, would you sweep that room for cameras to make sure you weren't being recorded. will that answer be enough when asked about this? as he is sure to be asked about this tomorrow night. >> i'm sure, obviously, that was a very inartful statement he said